Chief Uche Nnaji, a former Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, has officially clinched the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship ticket in Enugu State.
During the primary election held in Enugu on Monday, Nnaji secured a landslide victory by polling 7,424 votes to defeat his rival, Mr. Samson Nnamani, who trailed far behind with just 600 votes.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) confirmed that the exercise was directly supervised by the Chairman of the PDP State Gubernatorial Committee, Mr. Austin Nwachukwu.
Delivering his acceptance speech, Nnaji expressed deep gratitude to party members for giving him the mandate and vowed never to take their trust for granted.
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He specifically targeted the current administration’s fiscal policies, promising that his government would relieve the financial distress of Enugu residents “by ensuring that they are not overburdened under the guise of taxes”.
“I give this victory to the glory of God and our Enugu people, who have been oppressed in the last three years and being overburdened with excessive, obnoxious taxes. Landlords are paying through their nose, hoteliers are crying, commercial motorcyclists (okada riders) are out of existence, even people hawking water pay tax. These are the people that we should be giving money. Government should make provision to pay money to the less-privileged. And that is the fulcrum of this struggle. The struggle to recover Enugu State, the struggle to rebuild Enugu State and the struggle to industrialise Enugu State, so that we will arrest youth restiveness. We will build industries to give our people jobs. Jim Nwobodo was the only governor in this state that built industries,” the former minister said.
Nnaji further criticized the alleged mismanagement of the state’s existing industries, calling it completely unacceptable.
He pledged to radically turn around the living conditions of the people within four years, explicitly stating that he would serve only a single term in office if elected.
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Speaking earlier, the committee chairman praised the orderly conduct of the party delegates throughout the voting process.
“The result is a proof that PDP is not only waxing strong but is positioned to win election in Enugu State in 2027,” Nwachukwu said.
However, the victory comes amid a controversial political past. Daily Trust reports that two years into the administration of President Bola Tinubu, Nnaji was forced to step down from his ministerial position following intense scrutiny.
An investigative report by PREMIUM TIMES had previously exposed how the ex-minister allegedly forged both his university degree and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificates, documents he had submitted to President Tinubu and the Nigerian Senate during his ministerial screening.
